Unless the ebony is of a particularly good quality there will be a brown or greenish tinge that should be overcome by wiping the frame with a good quality ebony stain, which can be bought ready made. The frame may then be finished by polishing with white or transparent polish. Or a combined ebony stain and polish may be used.

This is made by mixing with the polish sufficient gas black or Frankfort black to gain the tone desired. An aniline spirit dye is used in most good shops, for the reason that it does not thicken the polish. In any case the best results are gained if the black is used thinly in the preliminary stages, and the final bodying up and finishing out are done with transparent polish. As ebony is a close-grained wood, no grain filler is required, and only a small quantity of polish. To apply the polish use wadding pads, slightly moistened with linseed oil.